Spot-fixing refers to illegal activity in a sport where a specific part of a game is fixed. Examples include something as minor as timing a no ball or wide delivery in cricket or timing the first throw-in or corner in association football. Spot-fixing attempts to defraud bookmakers illegally by means of a player agreeing to perform to order by pre-arrangement.[1] As such spot-fixing differs from match fixing, where a whole match is fixed, or point shaving, a specific type of match fixing in which corrupt players (or officials) attempt to limit the margin of victory of the favoured team. Spot-fixing is more difficult to detect than match fixing or point shaving. Spot-fixing is most associated with the betting markets of the Indian subcontinent where bets can be placed on individual deliveries in a cricket match.[2] The advent of Twenty20 cricket is said to have made spot-fixing more difficult to detect[3] as has the growth of Internet gambling and spread betting.
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Matt Le Tissier bet on the timing of the first throw-in in a match he played for Southampton against Wimbledon in 1995. The plan failed when a team mate who was unaware of the scam managed to keep his underhit pass on the pitch.[4] Le Tissier was forced to quickly kick the ball from play to prevent himself losing money on the bet but neither won nor lost money after managing to kick the ball out after 70 seconds.[5] He stated that he felt so silly about the incident that he never did it again.
Jamie Bell, when playing for Sheffield International in the Sheffield & District Fair Play League won £1,000 when he famously kicked the ball immediately out of play from a kick off in the 91st minute of the clubs match against Sheffield Trinity. Bell, celebrated by entering a recording studio and recording a version of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division in homage to Ryan Giggs. Bell hopes to secure the coveted Christmas Number 1 with his take on the classic song.
In the 2010 Pakistan tour of England, it was alleged Pakistani players Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir bowled no-balls at specific points as part of a conspiracy involving captain Salman Butt to defraud bookmakers. As a result, Salman Butt has been banned for ten years, Asif for seven years and Amir for five years.[6] The matter became a criminal investigation that resulted in custodial sentences for four people involved.
In November 2011, Butt was sentenced to 30-months' imprisonment, with Asif being imprisoned for one year and Amir jailed for six months.
In England, allegations of spot-fixing have been made against two Essex players, the Pakistani Test bowler Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield.[7]
Australian rugby league player Ryan Tandy was found guilty of spot-fixing during a 2010 National Rugby League season match between North Queensland and Canterbury-Bankstown. Tandy, playing for Canterbury-Bankstown, was involved in spot-fixing the first score of the match to be a North Queensland penalty goal. Observers noted that there had been an unusually high proportion of bets taken on the penalty goal option for the game. Then, in the opening minutes of the game, Tandy was found to have deliberately conceded a knock-on from the match's kick-off and then a penalty for slowing down the play-the-ball in the Cowboys' first attacking set in front of the goalposts, giving North Queensland a chance to kick an easy penalty goal. As it happened, the spot-fixing attempt was unsuccessful, as North Queensland passed up its penalty goal opportunity and scored a try instead.
Tandy was found guilty of "attempting to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage" on 6 October 2011. Former player John Elias, Tandy's manager Sam Ayoub, and property manager Greg Tait, have also been arrested in connection with the incident,[8] but their cases have not yet progressed through the court system. Tandy is expected to appeal. The NRL has not yet applied its own penalties, indicating that it will wait until all legal proceedings, including appeals, have been exhausted, but has made it clear that anyone ultimately found guilty will be banned from the sport for life.[9]